Chapter 3 Preface (2)

Most of Irena’s novels are set in the banking world and Jewish families she is familiar with. The stories are strong and the writing is sophisticated. Although the field of vision is narrow, she is good at eliciting people’s thinking about morality and society through stories and plots. In this regard, she Deeply influenced by Turgenev.She often uses unhappy love or tense family relationship to dig out the deep-seated reasons behind it, or accuses them of injustice through the tragic experience of the Jews.Her novels are delicate in description, beautiful in language, and attach great importance to the shaping of characters, even in secondary characters.Every time she writes a novel, she will collect a lot of information. When writing "French Suite", she found a very detailed map of France and many related newspapers of the year, and even what birds and flowers appeared in the local garden in summer. Also check it out.She often prepares two pencils, red and blue, and does not hesitate to cut out large sections when revising.The four novels included in this series - "The Dog and the Wolf", "Isabel" and "The Wine of Solitude" are all works written by Irene in the 1930s. The 1930s was a period of stability for Elena, and also the period when her creations were the most abundant. Her works gradually matured, which typically reflected her creative style. Published in 1935, The Wine of Solitude is a highly autobiographical novel about the fate of a Russian family who fled and settled in Paris.The mother in the novel was born in a wealthy family, but because she married a Jew, she was discriminated against in society, and everything in life went wrong. She thought it was her husband’s fault, hated her husband very much, and had no affection for her daughter.The lonely daughter wants to break free from her mother's control and get out of this home without warmth.This is almost a true portrayal of the author's own life.Elena has lived in loneliness since she was a child. Her father likes her, but because of his busy work, he seldom spends time with her.But the noble and beautiful mother hated her, thinking that the birth of her daughter made her old, and she was even more unwilling to sacrifice her own time to take care of her daughter, even though she finally lived to be one hundred and two years old.She is very indifferent to her daughter. In order to facilitate her private life, she sent her daughter to boarding school for a long time; when her daughter became a mother later, her gift was just a teddy bear; Persecution, when the two daughters who were hunted down ran to the grandmother to take refuge, the cruel grandmother didn't even open the door, and didn't even admit that she had a daughter. She shouted to the two little girls through the door, there are special institutions to take in people like them Orphans, especially sick orphans.At that time, Elena's eldest daughter Denise suffered from pleurisy due to long-term hiding in the damp cellar.These details are expressed in Irena's works that will appear in various forms in the future.In addition to "Lonely Wine", "The Prom", "David Gold" and many other works have an abusive and vicious mother.This can be seen as a sort of literary reckoning.

"Isabel", published in 1936, also has the shadow of that mother. The novel describes the tragic life of a Jewish woman: she killed someone, was tried in court, witnesses walked in front of her, lawyers and prosecutors argued with each other, The judge and the audience were excited and roared angrily, but she sat in the dock with no expression on her face, recalling the past events one by one: childhood, exile, bereavement of her father, marriage, bad relationship with her daughter, aging, until committed an unforgivable crime. Published in 1938, it is a rather Stendhal-esque novel about a Julien-like young man who tries to change his humble social status by marrying the banker's daughter.He was full of enthusiasm, but was betrayed by the woman he loved, so he began to take revenge crazily, and finally became a "prey of love".The novel mercilessly reveals the dangers of the human heart, the changeability of emotions and the impermanence of fate, and describes the frenzied passion and the disillusionment of hope in a crazy age.

If the love in the novel is full of conspiracy and revenge, the love story in "Dog and Wolf" is touching: the Jewish girl Ada has a crush on the Jewish boy Harry since she was a child, but they cannot be married because of the disparity in social status. Reunited in Paris, although one is rich and the other is poor, but nostalgia has become the bond connecting them, they finally broke through the barriers of marriage and came together.However, misfortune fell from the sky.In order to save the reputation and status of his sweetheart, Yada bravely made sacrifices and returned Harry to the powerful wife he should have married with. He left his hometown and gave birth to and raised her and Harry alone thousands of miles away. crystallization of love.This is not an ordinary love novel, but a novel that reflects national suffering and expresses national aspirations.

"The Dog and the Wolf" was the last novel published by Irena during her lifetime.After World War II, she seemed unfairly forgotten after her loyal publisher published three of her last works: The Life of Chekhov, The Wealth of This World and Autumn Flames. It was not until 1985 that anyone thought of this talented female writer, and her works were reprinted one after another. In 1992, Elena's youngest daughter Elizabeth wrote an autobiography "The Watchtower" in the first person from the mother's point of view, comprehensively reviewing her mother's life. In 2000, "The Watchtower" was reprinted, but by this time Elizabeth was already suffering from cancer and died soon after.In the same year, Irena's fifteen novellas that had never been published were also published for the first time under the name "Sunday Comes Soon", but it was not until the publication of "French Suite" in 2004 that this talented person became outstanding. Women writers have received due attention and honor.After the book was published, it quickly aroused great repercussions internationally. Within a month, 15 countries purchased the copyright, and set off a "Nemi craze" in many countries.Just when we were about to launch this series of books, there was another news that "French Suite" was rated as the best novel of 2006 by Amazon online bookstore.It seems that Irena's novels have no national boundaries and no generation gaps, but I prefer to see it as a signal of the return of realistic novels, or in other words, a manifestation of her novels' strong vitality.

Ancient Blue Mountain December 2006